Healthy weight loss comes with time, not drugs
The commercials on television make weight loss look easy – take this pill or injection and follow this diet.
The latest popular wave has people losing 20 to 30 pounds in a month using the human chorionic gonadotropin diet.
The hCG diet combines hormone therapy with an ultra-restrictive diet of only 500 calories per day.
Ads say the hormone will suppress hunger, reset your metabolism and cause attractive fat distribution.
However, health experts at Ashtabula County Medical Center say this is a dangerous weight-loss plan that can lead to serious physical problems.
Humans burn hundreds of calories by just being awake. The calories we burn breathing, circulating blood, growing, and maintaining the daily functions of life are referred to as the basal metabolic rate (BMR).
Even digesting food can burn up 10 percent of your daily caloric intake.
BMR varies based on height and weight. People who are taller or weigh more need more calories to live and sustain their bodies.
For example, a 25-year-old woman who is 5-foot, 5-inches tall and weighs 130 pounds, burns about 1,400 calories per day, just keeping the body functioning. A 35-year-old man 5-foot, 8-inches tall weighing about 170 pounds burns about 2000 calories as BMR.
The remainder of the calories burned in a day includes how physically active you are – whether sitting behind an office desk, or running Ironman triathlons on the weekend.
Eating just 500 calories a day means your body is a minimum of 900 to 1,500 calories short of the minimum it needs to function daily.
ACMC’s Clinical Nutrition Manager Maureen Guyton, RD, LD, said, restricting calories to this extreme forces the body to start consuming itself just to survive - and it does not distinguish between fat and muscle.
“It is very dangerous. It degrades lean body mass, which not only includes muscle mass, but also organ tissue,” Guyton said.
If a person maintains such a low caloric intake, they would soon start showing visible signs of health problems including for headaches, dizziness, fatigue, thinning or brittle hair, constipation, dry skin, an inability to tolerate cold temperatures, dehydration, insomnia, swelling in the arms and legs, and more.
“A person following that diet would have the same symptoms that an anorexic patient would have and it would become fatal eventually,” Guyton said.
While losing 30 pounds may be a dream for some people, a healthy weight loss can still get the job done – it will just take longer.
A safe and healthy weight loss is about two pounds per week. That means in a month, a loss of 8-10 pounds can be achieved. Since that is a healthy weight loss, it can be maintained for months, until you achieve your goal weight.
ACMC has several programs designed to help with weight loss.
In Health for Life classes (which starts this month), members learn how to establish a diet through classes taught by dietitians, who explain what the body needs to function, and how to provide it through a healthy balance of carbohydrates, proteins and fats.
Physical fitness experts and trainers teach how to incorporate exercise into your weekly routine – even for people who have not exercised in years.
Health for Life is also beneficial for those with diabetes or pre-diabetes. Three special classes will focus on how diabetes affects the body, and how to cope with those changes.
For those who need more personal focus and drive, Premiere Fitness offers Results Weight Loss Solution.
This 12-week program starts with a computerized health assessment that helps establish goals, and gives a comparison of how you look and feel now with how you can look and feel after 12-weeks, six months or a year later.
Through the right exercise and nutrition, most people can lose the weight they need within a year.
Before beginning any exercise program, see your physician to ensure you know any potential health risks.
ACMC also offers specialized nutritional counseling. For more information on nutritional counseling, call 440-997-2262, ext. 2093.
For more information about Health for Life, contact Kathy Chiacchiero at 440-997-6634.
For more information about Results Weight Loss Solution, contact Premiere Fitness at 440-998-FITT.
Visit www.acmchealth.org or www.premierefitness.com for more information.
Healthy weight loss comes with time, not drugs
The commercials on television make weight loss look easy – take this pill or injection and follow this diet.
The latest popular wave has people losing 20 to 30 pounds in a month using the human chorionic gonadotropin diet.
The hCG diet combines hormone therapy with an ultra-restrictive diet of only 500 calories per day.
Ads say the hormone will suppress hunger, reset your metabolism and cause attractive fat distribution.
However, health experts at Ashtabula County Medical Center say this is a dangerous weight-loss plan that can lead to serious physical problems.
Humans burn hundreds of calories by just being awake. The calories we burn breathing, circulating blood, growing, and maintaining the daily functions of life are referred to as the basal metabolic rate (BMR).
Even digesting food can burn up 10 percent of your daily caloric intake.
BMR varies based on height and weight. People who are taller or weigh more need more calories to live and sustain their bodies.
For example, a 25-year-old woman who is 5-foot, 5-inches tall and weighs 130 pounds, burns about 1,400 calories per day, just keeping the body functioning. A 35-year-old man 5-foot, 8-inches tall weighing about 170 pounds burns about 2000 calories as BMR.
The remainder of the calories burned in a day includes how physically active you are – whether sitting behind an office desk, or running Ironman triathlons on the weekend.
Eating just 500 calories a day means your body is a minimum of 900 to 1,500 calories short of the minimum it needs to function daily.
ACMC’s Clinical Nutrition Manager Maureen Guyton, RD, LD, said, restricting calories to this extreme forces the body to start consuming itself just to survive - and it does not distinguish between fat and muscle.
“It is very dangerous. It degrades lean body mass, which not only includes muscle mass, but also organ tissue,” Guyton said.
If a person maintains such a low caloric intake, they would soon start showing visible signs of health problems including for headaches, dizziness, fatigue, thinning or brittle hair, constipation, dry skin, an inability to tolerate cold temperatures, dehydration, insomnia, swelling in the arms and legs, and more.
“A person following that diet would have the same symptoms that an anorexic patient would have and it would become fatal eventually,” Guyton said.
While losing 30 pounds may be a dream for some people, a healthy weight loss can still get the job done – it will just take longer.
A safe and healthy weight loss is about two pounds per week. That means in a month, a loss of 8-10 pounds can be achieved. Since that is a healthy weight loss, it can be maintained for months, until you achieve your goal weight.
ACMC has several programs designed to help with weight loss.
In Health for Life classes (which starts this month), members learn how to establish a diet through classes taught by dietitians, who explain what the body needs to function, and how to provide it through a healthy balance of carbohydrates, proteins and fats.
Physical fitness experts and trainers teach how to incorporate exercise into your weekly routine – even for people who have not exercised in years.
Health for Life is also beneficial for those with diabetes or pre-diabetes. Three special classes will focus on how diabetes affects the body, and how to cope with those changes.
For those who need more personal focus and drive, Premiere Fitness offers Results Weight Loss Solution.
This 12-week program starts with a computerized health assessment that helps establish goals, and gives a comparison of how you look and feel now with how you can look and feel after 12-weeks, six months or a year later.
Through the right exercise and nutrition, most people can lose the weight they need within a year.
Before beginning any exercise program, see your physician to ensure you know any potential health risks.
ACMC also offers specialized nutritional counseling. For more information on nutritional counseling, call 440-997-2262, ext. 2093.
For more information about Health for Life, contact Kathy Chiacchiero at 440-997-6634.
For more information about Results Weight Loss Solution, contact Premiere Fitness at 440-998-FITT.
Visit www.acmchealth.org or www.premierefitness.com for more information.